In the Margins is an opinion feature where the Muskegon Chronicle
Editorial Board injects commentary into a previously published story.
The reporter's byline is removed because the opinions expressed are not
those of the original writer of the news story.

KEN STEVENS/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO
A male inmate lies in a cell at the Muskegon County Jail last year. A grassroots group and Muskegon County officials agree that the jail conditions are poor, but Letters Are Better opposes the idea of a new jail facility that the county is proposing.

Letters Are Better, consisting of about a dozen Muskegon-area residents, recently announced its opposition to the proposed new jail project and introduced a newsletter, called No (New) Jail News, designed to share its members’ viewpoints on the topic and provide information on the jail-planning process.

Muskegon Chronicle Editorial Board:The condition of the county jail is a major concern. How to fix the problem also is a major concern. The county board has appointed a board committee, which already has begun reviewing the issue. The county board also has decided to appoint a citizens committee to look at the issue.

Now an opposition group has formed. That's a lot of committees looking at the same thing.

A community discussion of the issues is important. We urge the Letters Are Better group to apply for a position on the citizens committee and we urge the county board to appoint a Letters Are Better member to the group. Each commissioner is allowed to appoint one member to the committee, if commissioners don't want to give up their appointment they should increase the committee size to 12 and make the Letters Are Better group an at-large appointment.

Based on the group’s newsletter, Letters Are Better agrees with several county officials that the current jail, which is attached to the Hall of Justice, is in poor condition. However, the grassroots group disagrees with the county’s plan to replace it with a new, larger facility.

According to an editorial in the newsletter by Nell Schaefer, one of the group’s members, she believes the county should be using the money it has saved in a special jail-planning fund, about $7.4 million, to fix and improve the current jail rather than build a larger jail to house additional inmates. Wendy Sampson, another member of the group, also called on the county to focus on addressing the current jail’s condition in a Letter to the Editor last week in The Chronicle.

“This county does not need nor can afford a new, bigger jail,” Schaefer wrote in the newsletter. “What we do need are more programs to reduce recidivism and offer concrete alternatives to incarceration and improvement of conditions in the current building.”

The second most popular choice in the poll was to build new. However, numerous comments below the poll opposed building a new jail and suggested looking at more alternative programs.

The best way to reach a consensus on the issue is to get people with different opinions together. Let them weigh the facts and propose solutions.

County officials have previously highlighted the county’s jail-alternative programs and their successes. However, they say the current jail’s lack of space limits in-jail programs that could be established to help address recidivism even more.

County officials, including judges, also have pointed out that the overcrowding issue at the jail has led to some inmates being released who they believe should be in jail.

Sheriff Dean Roesler has said the jail fund was set up by the county as a “savings account” toward building a new facility and that money is not part of the budget for the Sheriff’s Office. The jail fund was established several years ago in planning for a new jail with the intention of alleviating some of the overall cost.

Roesler has said his indications are that a new jail, whether a retrofit into an existing building or a newly constructed facility, would require 500-600 beds in planning for the county’s future. The current jail is rated for 370 beds, although the sheriff has said the average daily population exceeds 400.

The tentative project schedule, submitted earlier this month by County Administrator Bonnie Hammersley, calls for a new Muskegon County Jail and Juvenile Transition Center to open Jan. 2, 2015. Hammersley cautioned the planning committee overseeing the jail proposal that the project schedule is preliminary and some changes are expected.

The county has been investigating various options during their years-long quest to replace the 50-plus-year-old jail that many officials consider outdated, too small and a liability. The Muskegon County Jail and Juvenile Transition Center Committee was formed recently with the intention of making recommendations by July 30 as to the site, financing options and design for a new jail facility.

MCEB: We agree with the county board that something needs to be done about the jail and that we've reached the point where a decision is vital. The number and kinds of inmates have changed in the 50 years since the county jail was built simply because the county population has grown and changed.

The approach to corrections also has changed with different theories and philosophies about best practices. All of this requires changes in the jail layout.

The safety of inmates and jail employees also is a concern.

The county needs to make a decision before one is court-ordered. All opinions need to be considered, along with all the facts. All sides need to listen to each other to reach a decision that is best for county.Nothing good will come from a he said-she said slugfest of opinions distorting the facts.

Let's move forward with all interested parties at the table.

The committee is expected to consider several sites, some with existing buildings that could be refurbished as a jail and some vacant with the intention of building a new jail. As part of the process, a Citizens Review Committee also is set to be formed to assist the committee consisting of county officials.

The county’s jail-planning committee is scheduled to meet again 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Hall of Justice, 990 Terrace, in Muskegon.

A replacement facility for the jail and Juvenile Transition Center was voted the No. 1 priority among department heads, elected officials and county commissioners earlier this year at the completion of a two-day strategic planning session.